Dear Mr. Sibdas Ghosh, Parakeets have always been eating up our crops since centuries. At the same time, nobody speaks about the insect eating birds that have been playing such an important role in protecting our crops from insects. Again, the parakeets have taken to our crops because man has disturbed their food chain to such an extent that they are forced to change their eating habits. What we could do is educate people about the importance of birds and animals in protecting plants and trees. For example, I had made a little study of birds that prey on serious pests of Robusta coffee and published an article in the magazine Indian Coffee. The result was that a lot of people who were using pesticides in controling these pests got to know that if an atmosphere was created for birds like the speckled Peculet and birds like the tailor bird, the population of these pests could be kept under control. I live at the edge of a forest in Wyanad in Kerala. My coffee holding skirts the wyanad wild life sanctuary. We have animals coming into our holding and come quite close to our home. On many a morning I can see deers from my bathroom in the morning. On many an occasion we hear their alarm call. Our neighbours lay traps and on many an occasion, I go out and free the animals that are trapped. We have wild elephants coming into our holding almost every night during the jackfuit season. Man has encroached upon their migration corridors. Corridors that they have been using since centuries. Monoculture has destroyed their food chain. These forests were full of fruits, bamboos and plenty of other trees that was part of their food chain. If we only allow nature to play its part, we could have the forests back on track and come close to what it was before man's intervention. You are right about the predators. Man has decimated their numbers and the population of deers are shooting up. Leopards come close to our home now and then. Man in order to protect their cattle or goats, go to the extent of poisoning them. The result is that the population of deers and even monkeys go up. I am convinced Mr. Sidbas that if man leaves nature alone, most of these imbalances would be corrected.
regards Yazdy. On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 10:56 PM, sibdas <[email protected]> wrote: > > It is a very interesting situation, we should discuss the matter with > open mind. Once Salim Ali declared that Parkeets are real menace, as > they destroy our crop cosiderably, sending wide spread protest. When > we have a natural population ,we can leave the matter to the Nature. > But our to-day's world is not that natural. In Sundarbans, the deer > population was under control as long as tiger population was normal. > But now with the dwindling population of the predators, deers may turn > to be menace. It has happened in many protected areas. In this > situation some thing needs to be done. Salim Ali was no less bird > lover than any one else. In some pockets of S. India, the elephant > population has grown so fast, due to protection, that the new > generation of the animals are no more so well developed due to > scarcity of fodder as their earlier generation. As we have already > altered the nature to such an extent, we have to think over what to do > to keep our endangered wild life population healthy. > > On May 23, 9:32 pm, Yazdy Palia <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hi Friends, >> Dears removing bark, Elephants knocking down trees in the forest have >> been happening since the centuries. It can not be termed a menace. >> As long as man does not interfere in nature, nature will take care of >> it. It can not be compared to the decimation of thousands of acres >> that man has committed. It can not be compared with the damage that >> the forest department has committed by introducing thousands of acres >> of teak plantation. The animals have been deprived of their natural >> food. It has forced the macaques from leaving the forests and seeking >> food in plantations and orchards. >> The girdling done by settlers near forests is many times more than the >> girdling done by deers. Politicians open up plots for settlers who are >> given 3 to 5 cents of land near forests commit much greater harm than >> the poor deers. These settlers forage for firewood in the forests and >> when there are no dry twigs or branches girdle small trees and when >> they dry up cut them down for firewood. >> No my friends, deers do not do a fraction of the damage done to nature by >> man. >> >> Regards >> Yazdy. >> >> >> >> On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 7:37 PM, raghu ananth <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > We saw this tree - guggala dhoopa - Boswellia serrata Var.glabra >> > (BURSERACEAE) with its bark removed/eaten(?) up. Locals over here say the >> > the sambar deer (Cervus unicolor) with its long horn rubs the bark of this >> > tree and eventually removes it (ring barking or girdlin) completly. The >> > tree with its bark stripped would die soon. We saw two such trees without >> > its bark. >> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringbarking >> > The bark of this tree is considered to be sweet, cooling and tonic. >> >> > Local Name (Kannada) : guggala dhoopa >> > Hindi Salai >> > Scientific Boswellia serrata Var.glabra (BURSERACEAE). >> > Bolpe reseved forest, Kukke, Western ghats >> > Photo date: 25 Mar 2009 >> >> > References:- >> > From wikipedia >> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringbarking >> > the process of completely removing a strip of bark (consisting of Secondary >> > Phloem tissue, cork cambium, and cork) around a tree's outer circumference, >> > causing its death. >> > Girdling occurs by deliberate human action (forestry and vandalism), >> > accidentally (as in the case of new saplings tethered to a supporting >> > stake), or by the feeding actions of >> > some herbivores (who feed on bark at their height). It is most commonly >> > used >> > as a deliberate method of thinning forests and by farmers to yield larger >> > fruits. >> >> >http://www.liveindia..com/herbs/7.html >> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boswellia_serrata >> >http://envis.frlht.org/trade_search.php?txtpart=RESIN&lst_part=RESIN&;... >> >> > ________________________________ >> > Explore and discover exciting holidays and getaways with Yahoo! India >> > Travel >> > Click here! >- Hide quoted text - >> >> - Show quoted text - > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
